According to PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center, collisions between vehicles and deer increase by about 16% in the weeks following the fall clock change.
Stephanie Wein, Clean Water and Conservation Advocate with PennEnvironment, says several factors contribute to the increase.
“We’re driving more at night, and there’s always more car crashes at night when visibility is lower. But animals actually get used to our patterns. And so they could be expecting to see traffic taper off or ramp up at a certain time, and they base their movement through the area on those patterns. So when we start driving an hour earlier, an hour later, we surprise them too.”
The time change also coincides with deer breeding season, when white-tailed deer are particularly active as they search for mates.
Pennsylvania is consistently vulnerable to wildlife collisions. Wein says more than 140,000 claims were filed with State Farm last year involving animal-vehicle crashes in the state. That figure doesn’t include smaller animals that are also killed on roadways.
“We have a really high ratio of animal habitat combined with roadways. In parts of the country that you might think of as more natural, like out west, they have fewer roads in some of those rural areas.”
Wein says drivers should remain alert regardless of whether they’re traveling through wooded areas or suburban neighborhoods, obey speed limits, and avoid distractions.
The state is also working on longer-term solutions. A new interagency working group is expected to develop a plan to improve habitat connectivity, including identifying locations for additional wildlife crossings and fencing.
Pennsylvania currently has only a couple dozen wildlife crossings statewide. Wein says those crossings can reduce animal-vehicle collisions by more than 80%.
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